Star Call: Chronicles of the Hawk

Starcall

A long time ago, in a not so far galaxy

Let there be light:

Terra. Third rock from Sol. In the words of a long forgotten sage, a fleck of dust suspended in sunlight. For a long time humans wondered if they were alone in the universe. And long before that even, mankind has it’s eyes on the stars. Archaeological evidence shows that humans had a interest in astronomy and the movement of planets even before most developed means of flight, sometimes even before a written language. Luna and Sol were constant protagonists in the narrative of different tribes, playing often a central role in their cosmology under the guise of different names and characters, and the heavens fascinated the early humans to a degree we may possibly never understand fully. Under the starlight, mankind rose from tree hoping primates and scavengers, to the Age of Lights.

And they conquered their own planet. It’s oceans, mountains and skies long claimed before they made the first shy steps into space exploration. It was the middle of the 20th century when mankind first representative steps on Terra’s only moon, and the goddess Luna was forever stripped of her divinity. From there on, the sons of Terra spread across their solar system in a excruciatingly slow pace. That is, until the first FTL technology arrived in the closing days of the 23rd century. Light capable humans soon spread like grasshoppers beyond the Solar System, and soon found the answer to their question. They were not alone.

The diaspora:
Humans discover the gates. Enormous circles of stone floating just on the edge of the solar winds. Clearly not natural formations, this structures were the first evidence of non-human intelligence in the galaxy, and challenged the beliefs of many. Traditional religions and great part of human philosophy was struck a blow it would never fully recover from, and so was humanity’s ego. This structures would be discovered across the galaxy, and investigations would reveal intricate decorative design mixing seamlessly with functionality. Nobody knows exactly how we found the activation key, mostly because anything regarding said portals was always handled by the highest figures of authority and under the highest secrecy. The fact is, whatever designed this portals, design them to keep wormholes open across many points in the galaxy. Or maybe was able to create them. This shortened distances considerably, since even at light-speed, some places were simply out of reach of a humans lifespan or the durability of anything we could build.

The portals may have humbled with the clues hinting to a far superior species in the galaxy. But they also propelled us, and enlarged our reach beyond anything we could dream of. It was the start of the Golden age of humanity. And the end of the 24th century. A century of human expansion later and the Terran nations united into a Federative megaestate. The thousands of humans colonies spread across the stars react differently to the unification. Independences were proclaimed, Planets joined the Confederation with the new status of Confederate Nation instead of colony. It was then that the galaxy gained the face it has today; Hundreds of thousands of planets, some joined into megapowers, some independent nations, some even not unified within their own world. All active actors into the stage of interplanetary politics.